1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic processing method in which a surface emitting ultrasonic waves emitted from an ultrasonic probe is rotated on an axis of this ultrasonic wave emitting surface and this rotation is used to generate a plurality of ultrasonic cross-sectional images from a plurality of angles to a subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus scans the inside of a specimen with ultrasonic waves generated from an ultrasonic probe, and receives reflected waves from the inside of the specimen. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus acquires an ultrasonic diagnostic image of the inside of the specimen on the basis of a reception signal generated from the reflected waves from the inside of the specimen. In a diagnosis using the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, when a specimen such as one human body is inspected, a plurality of ultrasonic diagnostic images of the inside of the specimen may be generated. In this case, the ultrasonic diagnostic images may be saved.
Some of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses conduct a transesophageal ultrasonic diagnosis. A transesophageal ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprises an ultrasonic probe. The ultrasonic probe allows the rotation of an ultrasonic wave emitting surface on the direction of this ultrasonic wave emitting surface. That is, the ultrasonic probe comprises a mechanism for rotating the ultrasonic wave emitting surface. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the transesophageal ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus sets the angle of the ultrasonic wave emitting surface in the ultrasonic probe, generates an ultrasonic diagnostic image at the set angle, and then saves the generated ultrasonic diagnostic image.
In a diagnosis using the transesophageal ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a plurality of ultrasonic diagnostic images may be sequentially generated from a plurality of angular directions to a certain region of the inside of a specimen during the inspection of the specimen. In a series of operations for sequentially generating the ultrasonic diagnostic images from the plurality of angular directions, the ultrasonic diagnostic images may be generated in the following manner. First, an ultrasonic diagnostic image is saved at an arbitrary angle. Then, an ultrasonic diagnostic image is generated at an angle different from the arbitrary angle. Subsequently, an ultrasonic diagnostic image is again generated returning to the arbitrary angle.
The ultrasonic diagnostic image again generated corresponds to a region of the specimen which is important, for example, in diagnosing the specimen and which requires another observation. When an ultrasonic diagnostic image at the arbitrary angle is again generated, a rotating knob or switch provided in the ultrasonic probe is operated. Thus, the angle in the direction of the ultrasonic wave emitting surface is adjusted, and the ultrasonic diagnostic image at the arbitrary angle is generated.
Some of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses comprise a mechanism which mechanically swings the ultrasonic probe in a slicing direction. In a diagnosis using such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an observation and a diagnosis are conducted concerning ultrasonic diagnostic images from a plurality of angular directions to, for example, a target within the specimen. In the above observation and diagnosis, an ultrasonic diagnostic image is observed and diagnosed at an arbitrary angle. Then, an ultrasonic diagnostic image is observed and diagnosed at an angle different from the arbitrary angle. Again, an ultrasonic diagnostic image at the arbitrary angle is observed and diagnosed. In this case, the operation of again generating the ultrasonic diagnostic image at the arbitrary angle is carried out looking at the ultrasonic diagnostic images.
An angle at which the ultrasonic diagnostic image is generated in a rotated direction of the ultrasonic wave emitting surface is saved as angle information. The angle information for the ultrasonic diagnostic image is added to the ultrasonic diagnostic image and saved together when this ultrasonic diagnostic image is saved. Then, the angle information is generally displayed together with the display of the ultrasonic diagnostic image.
According to the disclosure of Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-79121, when the updating of the display of the images is temporarily stopped in accordance with an instruction from an operator during a cine-display in which a plurality of images stored in a memory are sequentially displayed in a time-series order, the image displayed when the updating is stopped is automatically saved, and the automatically saved image is displayed in accordance with a call operation from the operator.
Therefore, when the ultrasonic diagnostic images at a plurality of angles are sequentially generated and the ultrasonic diagnostic image at the angle at which the diagnosis has been completed is again generated, it is necessary to operate the rotating knob or switch provided in the ultrasonic probe and carry out the regenerating looking at the ultrasonic diagnostic images. Thus, the operation once performed has to be performed again for the regenerating of the ultrasonic diagnostic image. This leads to an increase in diagnostic time.
In is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic diagnostic processing method which enable the regenerating of an ultrasonic diagnostic image at a desired angle with a simple operation to achieve a reduction in inspection time.